Starting a new game

[Ilari]

Hey folks. I'm going to be starting a game for my group within the next few months, and I am seriously looking at using Hero as a system... mostly because the genre I want to set the game in is Dark Champions almost to the 'T'.

 

There are two problems with this plan, however. First of all, I've just read the Hero book: I haven't ever had the opportunity to play. So the learning curve for me as GM is going to be very steep.

 

The second problem is that character creation seems to require a lot of math. I don't have a problem with that, but two of my players will.

 

So, my question is twofold.

 

First of all, how much math does *playing* Hero require? If we help the two math-shy players create their characters, would they be able to handle the actual play a bit easier?

 

And secondly... would you have any advice for a first-time GM who's going into GMing Hero absolutely cold? Aside from "don't do that"?

[CorPse]

Re: Starting a new game

 

Do yourself a favor and get the HeroDesigner program (available through the online store here on the site.) Takes all the sting out of the math... and allows you to build characters by trying out different approaches.

 

There's not a ton of math during gameplay, at least that isn't, you know, just adding and subtracting!

[CorPse]

Re: Starting a new game

 

As for GMing...

 

Keep it simple. (DC is a great place to start because it usually doesn't get into a lot of weird power builds.)

 

Just wing it with a 3d6 roll if you can't remember a specific rule... you can look it up later.

 

Take it easy on yourself. GMing can be a tricky thing to do well, but if you're having fun, your players will probably have fun.

[tancred]

Re: Starting a new game

 

Welcome, Ilari.

What CorPse said, only more so.

 

Buy Hero Designer. Buy it NOW. It will help you so much, you'll wonder how you ever gamed without it. Even when you never played Hero before. It's THAT good.

 

Start simple. Play a couple of combats to get used to how that works; DON'T use any of the Optional rules at first.

Yes, Hit Locations are a blast, but they add complexity that you don't need to worry with when you're just getting started.

 

Most of all, have fun.

[CorPse]

Re: Starting a new game

 

I predict Thia will also recommend HeroDesigner

[Spence]

Re: Starting a new game

 

I predict Thia will also recommend HeroDesigner

 

I also recommend HeroDesigner.

 

I also predict that your prediction will be true.

[CorPse]

Re: Starting a new game

 

I also recommend HeroDesigner.

 

I also predict that your prediction will be true.

 

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Starting a new game

 

Normally I'm the cat shilling HDv3, but I'm forced to echo what they said. First, buy the software. Immediately after buying the software, you'll be in a much better position to move forward. But I'm being repetitive. Necessary! But repetitive.

 

Insofar as the math goes, all of the pain is in the opening. After that it's very straight forward. Honestly, there isn't any real difficulty in running the game. The pain really comes from character design. Having now run games consistently for the last twelve months or so, I can say this:

 

-- Most of the fear is unwarranted. The mechanics of hitting, dealing damage, and so on aren't all that different from game to game or system to system. You can add or take away various rules, but the basics of combat are very direct.

 

-- Power resolution can be trickier, since poorly built powers tend to be subjective, so you may want to spend session one doing nothing but working out powers and character design, rather than diving in feet first, although you can certainly open up with running some combats early on.

[CorPse]

Re: Starting a new game

 

I told ya so!

[Spence]

Re: Starting a new game

 

Yes, my prediction of your prediction was indeed accurate

[Kdansky]

Re: Starting a new game

 

Since this seems to be the topic anyway: Why does everyone insist on using HD? It's not like the math is complicated? I mean, if I wasn't so incredibly bad at doing calculations in my head, I wouldn't even need a calculator for it (yes, I am one of these people who type in 40 * 1.5 but I can solve Integrations and differential equations, I must've picked up +10 skill levels, only with advanced mathematics (-2))

 

But for that I don't really need a software. Well, I have one, it's called Calculator (and OpenOffice Math). Also, I do a lot of concept work on paper...

[Spidey88]

Re: Starting a new game

 

I don't use Hero Designer either, and I've never had any problems. There's no math in character creation that's any more complicated than adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

 

That being said: not having used HD, I can't say how much it might help speed things up! There's got to be a reason why these guys love it so much!

[CorPse]

Re: Starting a new game

 

The main thing for me is how easy it is to try out a bunch of builds for a power quickly. Also, it opens up the world of character packs where you get loads of pre-built stuff to play with. You can tweak it, or just run with it.

 

Time is everything, why not save it when you can? It's not like HD is expensive...

 

Clearly it works for a lot of people...

[Spence]

Re: Starting a new game

 

For me I actually rough and calculate things on a notepad. It has a better "feel" when I am in full creator mode.

 

The fantastic utility of HD is the the ability to quickly create NPC villains, hences, vehicles and such on the fly and print them out on demand.

 

Plus the last time I ran I was also doing all the heavy lifting for the PC characters as the players learned the system. It is far easier to punch in their characters and have HD proof them. It is true that I could do it all myself, but I just don't have the time I used to and HD really speeds up the number crunching.

 

You are all 100% correct when you say HD isn't required. But if you GM the versitility and speed it grants not to mention being able to printout everything, it just can't be beat.

 

Oh and the ability to whip out a combat record on the fly is a gem on its own.

 

just my 2 tenths of a cent

[CorPse]

Re: Starting a new game

 

POD baby.

 

yeah.

[CorPse]

Re: Starting a new game

 

Thanks for the love Spidey!

[Alibear]

Re: Starting a new game

 

Okay now we have HeroDesigner covered lets talk about what you need.

 

Can you let us know what kind of game you are going to run?

 

I would reccomend that you keep character creation simple. Just design a few stereotypical characters, perhaps give them a wee twist, but nothing complicated to get you going.

 

If you run fantasy, design a warrior, a rogue, a ranger I would leave the wizard for now, you can decide on magic later.

 

If it's a Supers game we can talk you through designing a few characters too.

 

 

When you get started have a fight, any fight, just to take the players through how hitting works, how you roll for damage and how body and stun works.

 

 

Keep it Simple to start with.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Re: Starting a new game

 

Something I've mentioned before that I like to do to ease players into the system is to run an "Action Teaser", as they call it in Hollyweird.

Takes a session or two, max. Pregen characters who are gonna get thrown right into the grinder that the real PC's wont reach till the Second act.

They get just enough background that the players can hook into them, and optimally are somewhat tailored and tailorable to the players. An added bonus is if, through good or lucky play any of the initial squad of heroic mooks survives encountering the Big Threat, you can drop them in as Reinforcements/Plot Hook/Native Guides later on and the players will be at least a little more prone to trusting them and not fragging them the moment they show up

 

Examples include "The SWAT team who encounter the Terrorists"

"The Police who discover the Vampires", "The Rednecks who investigate the Meteor crater" and "The Crash Survivors", to name a few classics right off the top of my head.

[Ilari]

Re: Starting a new game

 

Can you let us know what kind of game you are going to run?

 

Genre/setting would be Dark Champions, set in Hudson City. (I'm sticking as close to published material as I can for now, until I get a better sense of the system.) I'm aiming for a mostly vigilante sort of campaign, with a bit of Monster Hunter thrown in occasionally. Supernatural powers are very limited: this is what I told my players in email about the subject.

 

I'm not sure I'm going to allow any "supernatural" abilities, but if I do they're going to be extremely low-powered ones. For example, the only characters from "Heroes" (the TV series) I would NOT consider too high-powered would be people like Isaac Mendez, the pretty waitress from Season One, and *maybe* Matt Parkman. I'm going for a very gritty, street-level feel. You guys won't be saving the world. You'll be doing well just to save your neighborhood.

[Psybolt]

Re: Starting a new game

 

I too recommend HDv3. It is great.

 

Other than that, familiarize yourself with combat rules. Everything else can be role-played, but if you can get a feel for combat, everything will go much smoother.

 

And yes, there is little math after character creation.

 

When I first GMed I had a prepared story ready to go. Now I have guidelines and I allow the PCs to do what they want. I'd recommend having a good story and leading them through it while you get used to the system. Then you'll be able to do anything.

[Sean Waters]

Re: Starting a new game

 

Maths? Very little. You need to know how to roll to hit, how to roll skills and how to count damage dice. That is it. Very basic addition and subtraction, no more than any other game, despite the rep.

 

The best piece of advice I can give to a first time GM/player is this: do not be tempted to test Hero's claim to be able to build anything. Start with simple, generic characters first time out, and learn the system before you learn all the bells and whistles (to mix my metaphors horribly )

[Sean Waters]

Re: Starting a new game

 

Okay now we have HeroDesigner covered lets talk about what you need.

 

Can you let us know what kind of game you are going to run?

 

I would reccomend that you keep character creation simple. Just design a few stereotypical characters, perhaps give them a wee twist, but nothing complicated to get you going.

 

If you run fantasy, design a warrior, a rogue, a ranger I would leave the wizard for now, you can decide on magic later.

 

If it's a Supers game we can talk you through designing a few characters too.

 

 

When you get started have a fight, any fight, just to take the players through how hitting works, how you roll for damage and how body and stun works.

 

 

Keep it Simple to start with.

 

I'd rep you if I could, but you'll have to make do with respect for now, not only because I agree with what you are saying, but because you resisted the temptation add another word to Keep It Simple

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Starting a new game

 

I would also recommend that you customise the character sheets so that the players see as few numbers as possible. Most of the numbers are important for the character creation part of the game and not for the gameplay.

 

See what you can do to come up with a character sheet that simply shows CV, STUN, END, REC & BODY. To begin with I would have all the PCs have the same speed - makes it easy. If they have SPD 3 - mooks have SPD 2 they immediately see their superiority with little problem in speed chart stuff.

 

You might also want to include skill rolls (which gives clues to stats for some) but those can all be together.

 

Finally special abilities should be described in real English, not game jargon simply putting the dice necessary in a bracket near the end and a number in square brackets for the END necessary.

 

You could decide right off to ignore END as an added complication that can come in when the players are happy with the system, but I never found it that much of an issue for new players.

 

 

Doc

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Starting a new game

 

I suppose what I should add is that Hero Designer does allow you to create character sheets so that you could easily print out player and GM versions of the same character.

 

It _is_ a good programme but by no means necessary for play.

 

Doc

[Alibear]

Re: Starting a new game

 

Genre/setting would be Dark Champions, set in Hudson City. (I'm sticking as close to published material as I can for now, until I get a better sense of the system.) I'm aiming for a mostly vigilante sort of campaign, with a bit of Monster Hunter thrown in occasionally. Supernatural powers are very limited: this is what I told my players in email about the subject.

 

 

Okay.....this is one of the few games I've never played so have no real experience with.

 

Still.. how many points are we talking and how many disadvantages are you aiming at?

 

You can still use basic gaming stereotypes: The big strong guy, the sneaky guy, the guy with a gun etc.

 

 

I'm guessing they'll be ex military types, private eyes, gymnasts, sniper/ hunter types, they might even have a single low point power. Or not. Up to you.

 

You'll need to work out each character's schtick, what set's them apart from all the others. I always find a name helps to get my creative juices flowing. Others envision a power an build around that.

 

If you give a points point of reference, perhaps any ideas you may have we can talk you through some basics?